Page 49 of Midnight Auto Parts

Meaning we had to reschedule customersagain.

Meaning we might not have customers in the near future if I didn’t figure this out fast.

Now more than ever we couldn’t afford to lose both sides of the family business.

“I took the liberty of escorting Pedro to and from work today.” Kierce rested his hands on my shoulders. “I hope that’s all right with you. Matty consented, and so did he.”

A weight slid off my shoulders, and I don’t just mean his hands when I pivoted in his embrace and locked my arms around his waist. I mashed my face into his shirt and held on while the initial shock moved through him. Soon enough, he melted around me, his heart pounding in my ear. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad to have finally been of some use.”

“That won’t go over well,” Carter warned him, hunching lower on the couch.

“Finally?” Pinching his hip like I would Matty, I growled up at him. “How can you say that?”

Hand pressing against his side like he was staunching a lethal wound, he widened his eyes. “I?—”

“You don’t have to do things for me to earn your place here. You don’t have to earn your place period. It doesn’t work like that. You don’t have to perform favors or chores or—” I snapped my mouth closed the second his expression warned he was ready to dig in and fight back. “We haven’t known one another for long, but in that time, you’ve given me a reason to smile, to behappy. You helped me accept myself long before this demigoddess crap and gave me peace on a sore point that’s plagued me my whole life. I?—”

“Demi…goddess.”

Fingers bunching the fabric of Kierce’s shirt, I muttered a curse under my breath. I had gotten so worked up over Kierce devaluing himself, I had forgotten Carter was there. On the heels of that thought trotted another one. I wouldn’t have spoken freely if I didn’t trust her.

Had she not been twitching with facial spasms, I might have basked in the warm glow of that realization.

“Um, yes, well.” I cleared my throat. “You remember the train shed incident?”

From there, I fed her the highlights of what really happened and where I stood now.

“The chief can’t learn about this” was her immediate response. “He’s already hot to recruit you.”

“I don’t plan on tellinganyoneabout this.” I lifted a shoulder. “Except for family.”

The inclusion in the Talbot family unit forced Carter to look away, but Kierce rewarded me with a radiant smile that lit up his face until it hurt to see how much it meant to him to belong. Yet another reason why it pained me he felt he had to trade favors for status.

A pang struck me, a reminder of our last case and how things might have gone differently for so many kids if their protectors didn’t charge so much for safety that those under their care—and I use that word loosely—were too insecure in their place to form true friendships or put down roots.

Kierce wasn’t a lost child on the streets of Savannah, but he was under the thumb of someone far worse. He had no sense of home, no sense of worth, no sense ofself. And I wanted him to understand that even if we couldn’t make a relationship work, friendship was on the table.

But after that kiss…

I would rather spread him out on a table, honestly.

Thundering footsteps on the stairs announced my sibling or siblings’ return.

Matty let himself in carrying a large basket overflowing with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots. I peeled myself off Kierce then sanitized the counter so he could set down his harvest. I dug out a mixing bowl, cutting board, and knife. I set them aside for Josie then removed a second cutting board and knife.

“Kierce.” I crooked my finger. “I bought some ahi tuna steaks, if you trust me to sear them.”

As nonexistent as my kitchen skills were, I figured even I couldn’t botch a quick toss in the pan.

“I trust you.” He pulled a stool up to the bar and sat. “Wait.” He angled his chin. “Badb wants to watch.”

Knife in hand, I scowled out the window, searching for her. “This isn’t a three-ring circus.”

“You could have fooled me,” Carter muttered from the relative safety of the couch.

“I was going to make a point about not selling tickets to the show, but it’s gone now.” I caved to the interested stares which were, quite frankly, insulting. “I bought a sauce from the store.”

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